


Fuseki

by beautifulcheat (Katalyst)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, I don't know if this will ever be finished, M/M, WIP, background pre-zukaang, proceed at your own risk, serious wip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:01:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24294784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katalyst/pseuds/beautifulcheat
Summary: Azula only wants what's rightfully hers.
Relationships: Aang/Zuko (Avatar), Azula/Katara (Avatar)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 67





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally posted at ff.net. I started it in 2006, in the midst of grad school and starting a new career, and last updated it in 2010. So.... this probably won't be finished anytime soon, if ever. But I figured if anything might get me to start updating it again, moving and rereading it might. Might. No promises. I don't even remember where I was going with all this. 
> 
> Even so, if you read this, I hope you enjoy what I can say with definite authority, was the first azutara fic on ff.net. Because rarepairs was how I rolled, and I saw a niche and by god I was gonna fill it. 
> 
> Also if you knew me from the ff.net days and want to say hi, you can find me on tumblr under beautifulcheat, too :)

In the weeks and months following her father’s defeat, Azula watched the group of children who had somehow brought the fire nation to its knees closely, warily. Although the sorry excuse for an Avatar and his friends seemed friendly enough, they could always be dangerous. And if they weren’t… well, she was.

It was shocking that they even allowed her to live, let alone stay in the palace. Zuzu wasn’t the smartest, but even he should have figured out that her apologies and promises to not cause any trouble were nothing but lip-service until she could find a way to claim her rightful place as head of the nation.

Her lip curled in disgust a bit, watching him attempt to spar with the Avatar, smirking every time he let a blow get through. Weak and pathetic. Hiding behind a mere child when he should have let someone more capable take over, for no one would have ever allowed Zuko the throne if the boy hadn’t insisted. Their once great nation would never recover a fraction of its glory. That is, unless someone stepped in.

It would be difficult. She would have to be subtle. Insinuate herself bit-by-bit and win their trust. Eventually, she was sure, she’d have them eating out of her hand. It was a plan that had never failed before, and she was sure that with time and patience she could discredit her brother.

So Azula studied them, looking for the weakest link.

At first, she thought it would be the boy. The one who couldn’t bend and who was so easily led around by his hormones that every girl in the world caught his fancy. But he had proven strangely stubborn, insisting that he already had plenty of dangerous ladies in his life and he didn’t need any more, thank you, and could she please not talk to him anymore. Of course, in retrospect, he was much too far below her.

Then, she though perhaps the blind one. Azula couldn’t stand earthbenders – they were dirty, disgusting, uncivilized; but she thought that maybe she could befriend her, play upon her insecurities. That… hadn’t gone well either. The girl was even crasser than Azula had been lead to believe. She hadn’t the faintest idea how to treat a princess.  
The waterbender girl, though. Azula considered her, smiling ever so faintly. True, the girl was strong enough, for a waterbender (who were weak cowards who could never truly a match a fire bender, as everyone knew). She also seemed capable, confident in nearly everything. But Azula had noticed the hidden awkwardness she had whenever they had a formal occasion. How her clothes were never quite right unless someone helped her, and even then she gave away her peasant upbringing within moments. The frequent half-blushes and the slightly hurried speech as she tried to backpedal over a diplomatic misstep.

Now she could use a mentor. And Azula was nothing if not helpful.


	2. Joban

It took long enough to wear on Azula’s patience. Days before the girl wasn’t glaring at her every time she walked into the room, weeks before the girl would talk to her even briefly. Strangely, though, the biggest breakthrough came when she was most annoyed with the girl’s stubbornness, enough that she couldn’t keep up the sweet, innocent voice or the charming smile. That was when the waterbender really looked at her, and she realized in some shock that it was time to move to the next step.

Azula concentrated on small things, showing brief hints of attentiveness. Bring the girl tea before a servant could get to it or answer questions that she hadn’t asked. Give her advice, but not too willingly. It wouldn’t do to seem to be a sycophant, especially not later in her plans.

The girl wasn’t stupid, either. There was almost more wariness in her eyes the first time Azula brought her tea than the first handful of days where they weren’t (obviously) enemies anymore.

“It’s not poisoned.” The words came out more sharply than she wanted and she hurriedly smiled, hoping that the other girl would take it as a joke.

The girl frowned more. “Why are you bringing me tea?’

“Uncle asked me to.” A lie of course, but a plausible one, and the girl finally nodded a little, a half-smile on her lips as if she wasn’t sure it was allowed to smile at the enemy.

“I see. Thank him for me?”

Azula couldn’t help the frown. Ungrateful little thing. “Of course.” She turned to go, inwardly fuming.

“And thank you, too.” The words were hurried, not quite sounding like an afterthought so much as an admission of guilt. It would do for now.

Azula looked back at her, smiling just a bit and nodding regally before leaving. There wasn’t any need to prolong the conversation.

\----

Katara was lonely. Palace life was complicated and boring and she thought it would be fine, with Toph and Sokka and Aang here to lean on, but somehow things just never seemed to really work. Toph had been sullen and withdrawn, and now was just days from leaving the palace, too sick of walls and rules to stay for long. Katara couldn’t blame her, though. Even for her, it was stifling, and for Toph it must have been much worse.

Sokka.. well, her brother was… her brother, and she had all but given up trying to get any real advice out of him long ago. The victory had just made it worse… he was either droning on about his grand plans for the future of the world, or he was sneaking out on a date with Ty Lee or Suki… and Katara was amazed neither of them had quite put two and two together yet.

As for Aang, well, he was wonderful of course. He would always make time to talk to her, but it wasn’t ever the same lately. She could see him becoming increasingly involved with the peace negotiations, and it felt like she was imposing sometimes. The last thing she wanted to do was be a burden when Aang already had quite enough to deal with for someone so young.

Sometimes she contemplated going home, but it wasn’t exactly close enough for a spur-of-the-moment visit, and she also had a part to play here in smoothing over the ruffled feathers of the Fire Nation’s court. Most people, after all, had respected Ozai’s goals and were not won over yet by the avatar.

She had taken to rising early again to train, since even after the war it wouldn’t do to let herself get lazy. She had fought far too hard to earn the right to be a waterbender – to be anything less than the best she could be would be disrespecting herself and her teacher. The practices helped calm her mind as she moved through slow and deliberate forms that forced her to center herself.

She also liked the stillness of the palace at sunrise, when she was hardly ever disturbed and then only by a palace servant hurrying to begin breakfast. One slept in, apparently, here. Early risers were practically unheard of.

So when she turned from one form into the next, she was startled to see Azula watching her intently, standing only a few feet away.

Their eyes locked for a few heartbeats, and then the princess turned, walking towards the kitchen smoothly.

Katara shivered a bit, frowning deeply, relaxing out of the stance she was holding. Something was strange. Lately Azula had been.. well.. a little creepy. Not that Katara wanted to think badly of her, but given experience it wouldn’t be smart to underestimate the girl who had been one of their most formidable enemies.

\----

Azula was a natural predator, no matter what anyone had to say about her failure to capture the Avatar or her traitorous brother. She was patient and methodical, and she loved the feel of circling around her prey, drawing closer to it while it was unaware.

She had the girl off-balance. She had shown up several times to watch her practice her silly skills, until her presence no longer seemed to startle the waterbender. Instead of suspicion, the girl stared at her with a sort of wary confusion.

Thankfully, the next court dance was within days. She didn’t want the girl to get suspicious and tight-lipped again, nor did she want her to actually ask any of the questions that she knew must be on the girl’s mind. It was always best to strike quickly.

She stood at the door to the girl’s chambers and knocked on it lightly. There was more than an hour before the dance… plenty of time for her to get ready. She knew though from quizzing the maids that Katara fussed half the day.

She had to hold the slow, dangerous smile in when the girl answered, keeping her face neutral instead. Perfect.

The waterbender’s hair was in absolute disarray and she looked terribly frazzled, rushed.

“As I suspected.” She said with just the slightest hint of disdain, though she was sure the girl would catch it.

“Excuse me?” The girl looked somewhere between surprised and annoyed, as if she couldn’t make up her mind, wasn’t sure which emotion she should settle on.

“You’re going to disgrace us all if you keep this up.” Azula looked pointedly at her.

Now she was definitely annoyed, folding her arms. “Do you want something?”

Azula smiled just a bit. “Zuko asked me to help you. He said you were embarrassing yourself.”

It was a blatant lie, one that even the girl would probably have trouble believing. Zuko didn’t care for such things. He didn’t care if the entire nation found him and his friends to be a laughingstock. And for a moment Azula thought that the waterbender would think of that and she might just close the door in her face. Instead, she stepped aside to let Azula in.

Success. She knew that the girl’s self-consciousness would override the sliver of common sense she had. Azula held back a smirk as she bowed just a little (and it stung like knives to be so polite to a commoner and she knew it was something for which she’d get revenge later), accepting the invitation and stepping in. Turned to give her a critical once-over as the she closed the door, then took her elbow, leading her over to the dressing table.

“Sit down.”

A rebellious glare met her eyes in the mirror, but the girl sat after a moment. Clearly she realized how much help she really needed. Azula reached for a wide ivory comb, reaching up to her hair with her free hand.

“Tell me if I hurt you,” she said sweetly, and watched the girl’s eyes narrow angrily, but how she pressed her lips together to prevent an outburst as Azula raised the comb to pull it gently through her hair.  
Azula was a bit surprised at how much hair the waterbender apparently had, used to seeing it tightly braided. It was soft and fine, too, sliding through the teeth of the comb easily. Easy enough to manage, but the sheer volume would make it difficult to style by one’s self.

Eventually she put the comb down, amused to see the girl’s half-closed eyes open again, suddenly. She didn’t stop, though, simply gathering the hair up gently and starting to put it up in an elegant knot, pulling an ivory comb out of her own hair to secure it.

“Do you have any cosmetics?” She knew very well she did, and that she had too heavy a hand with them.

The girl frowned a bit, but nodded, sliding open a drawer. “Here.”

Azula smiled. “Turn around then.”

\----

Katara kept her eyes closed carefully while Azula lightly brushed powder over her eyelids, catching her breath a bit without realizing it. It was difficult to stay so still, doubly so when she couldn’t be sure that in the next minute the girl who was doing her makeup wouldn’t try to snap her neck. Especially with one hand lightly pressed to her cheek.

They were too close for comfort. Close enough that Azula’s breath stirred the wisps of hair that worked their way loose.

Azula moved to the other eye, dragging the brush over it carefully. Katara couldn’t figure out what the hell took so long putting on eyeshadow, either. She had no problem being girly, but the sheer time Azula was putting into it was ridiculous.

“Open your eyes.”

She did, looking up into Azula’s critical gaze, frowning.

“Stop that.” Fingers slid down under her chin, tilting her face up a bit and examining her a bit more. “Close them again.”

It was getting more irritating by the minute, dealing with her. She was so bossy and rude and… Katara sighed, exerting enormous self-control to close her eyes again, letting Azula fix whatever problem she had found.

“Part your lips a bit.” Katara opened her eyes, looking at Azula as she did so, trying not to frown. Azula glared at her scathingly. “I didn’t tell you to open your eyes.”

Breathe out. Count to ten. She closed her eyes as the princess smoothed a different brush over them, painstakingly slowly.

Eventually the girl moved on, smoothing a brush over her cheeks and her forehead and jaw, snapping at her every time she tried to open her eyes.

Finally, Azula stopped, stepped back. It was all Katara could do not to sigh in some relief.

“All right. Turn around and look.”

She stared at herself in the mirror, wide-eyed. She could hardly tell that she was wearing any makeup, but somehow she looked… older. More mature.

It was nothing like the spa or that disastrous party they had snuck into. She really looked like a lady, not a child.

When she looked up, Azula was smiling in an annoyingly smug, self-satisfied way. “I suppose you’re passable now. Time to move onto your clothes.”

Katara frowned, remembering to be irritated and looking down at the robe she was wearing. “What’s wrong with my clothes?”

“They’re too big for you. They’re lent from Lady Ursa’s old things and you’re not as tall as she was.”

“They were your mother’s?”

Azula shrugged, nonchalantly. “I have some of my own that might fit you better.”

“All right.” She nodded a little, feeling just a bit overwhelmed. “I guess we can try them..”


End file.
